The Hawaiian gazette., 1887-04-19
E1fstorr 500 Knirhts o. Labor.

being attracted. u considerable de
gree, 10 the knights az labor, and
the leading facts regarding the his
tory and character 81 this gTea. or
ganizstion sre 81 wide Interest. In
an excellent article, contributed 70
the Qga~ccr,g ,Fe,.-Egs gT Eos1eEleS. Mr.
Carroll d, Wright gives s comprehen
siye account 81 the rise and progreSs
Of the organization. with 3 description
81 It's principles. In setting forth the
lesding fscss relstinc 70 the order,
Mr.. Wright hiss had the assistance Of
officers and p2St officers II thst body.
and the facts and figures given by
him may be said u Be st least semi
official.
The = Noble Order Of The Knights
81 Labor q America was founded
on Thanksgiving DSy, 1853. n Phlls-
delphia- The founder WIS Urlsh )
Stephens, and his associates were slx
members q : garment cutters union.
The Union was then about disSolving,
OWING Il dissatisfaction resulting
from an unsuccessful attempt Il TX
wages on : b2sis agreeable 70 them,
Mr.. StephenS was 5 skilled mechanic
OF American birth, and o. s studious
disposition. He was 3 Mason. and
the ritual employed snd secrecy OBJ
served by such bodies impressed him
SO much that. owing chiefly 70 his ex-
er6ons, the knights o. Labor were
originally. and for many yeSrs after
their foundation. s secret society.
His controlling ideSs was formula
ted as follows: First. inst surplus
lSbor alwsys keeps lahor down; and.
second. JhSt the only remedy for this
was s secret body which should tesch
the power or organization Snd edu
este rs members 70 s SCI q ldeSs ulE-
mSfely subversive II the present
wages system. The order vas ofic;-
SLY nSmad the the knights q Is
bor " On December >, 1852. As stated
shove, the order originally wsS :
secce, one On Joining. the members
took 81 OSth 70 preserve secrecy II
regsrd u Cbs-r pcoceelnSs Fer
some tine the order was never of
cislly recognized by name II the CIR
eulSr and proceedings q The society.
The spplicanr Tor membership was
1rst Instructed IN the objects and
principles q The order. and S declsra
ton OF the shove objects was s pSrT
a the rituSl q joining On January
Is. $50. the frSt eleccien for officers
took plSce, and Mr. Stephens was
elected master workman. The impo--
isn't Office q StSCSslcisn wss crested
shortly stterward- The shove organ
nizsGon vss sfte-wGrd recognized IS
Local Assembly No. l. Al workers
were eligible 81 frs. except phys
cisns. politicians, lawyers and Eouor
deSierS- LSse- legislation has n
moved the disability II the case a
PHYSICIANS and similar seton hzs
been taken - s. - II. exclude -a-
engaged n political wC-k tor that
eaESe aio1e- The disability = TIE
case Of LAWYERS a1d liquor dealers has
never been removed. and 70 he Isl
Of IneiZiblaS have been GIGe6 bank
e-s and gamblers The growth Of the
Oria- MS SLOW. TIE Ers- quarterly
report Of The order showed 8 member
shin q .. The ErS1 annual report
showed s membership Q: 81, In Janu-
ar IS72. M Stephens declined s re
nomination toE s third tern IS master
workman. and Vas succeeded by
Robs-t c. Macauley- TIE nS- local
assembly VS. inside Up largely u gar
ne1e cutters. WITH the addition q
some few members Of othe- trades.
TIE second assembly wsS composed
Q: ship-eSrpanss-s zc6 builders
In 1873 the order sp-esd with some
rspi6Itv. TIE 6rst local assembly u
be organized outside o. Phls6alDhis
vas Local Nc Is composed q gol6-
bsste-s. II New 1ozk CITY. Tha growth
q the o-6ar and the necessity Q:
dong business Do-e quickly I'D 70
she OzSznizss5ol q the Erst 6isrle5
assembly q Dees-1S- - 1873 The
organisation q the VARIOUS locals an5
6lS-xie: assemblies atrsE this dzIs wss
50 rsp.d that On Js2uz-! / 1878 81
meeting u delegates q 81 the DIS
Ulc< assemblies. 3 general assembly.
CCFs-Ea6 oE SzlGEze1 dSoa-s and
oo1S1sEilo1 Ezs organized and NJ
SssDke2s wzs ehose1 grand Ezs-E
Ec-k-ar- Ii this 6z1e eleven dis
srlc- assemblies wsCs II operation
Tne cc1s- VS. nov n : ec-U-s-e
cazGGo1- he local assembly GU
responded u 5ovn q ely o-gDzs-
tons. tka dlS5zlc5 ssselbly. Dsis I'D
q locaLS On The tOm q coI5y II
STATE go7s-nns15, and he general
ssss-6ly beng 5e Esln federal baz3
q 81
U 10 lis dz5s. 1878 10 tC-zl
decIzrztioz q p1nc5plss had been
-sSs- ne ssE@ character q The
a-zznlLzzlo-- ueEpz-szs3 : co-EzcE
with the Cach1-lc eECeh- Which
esuse6 saEEzl l1c9I ana 51S-E5ce -
sezbEss 10 lzpss Ala sveczl Net
ng. called N J-za 1915 tEs frs
rss3 pI5-5clty rs gwen II t1s C-gsn-
--s--r== s7v r-s-r- Is -s--e r-r7rss